The game’s most adrenaline-fueled position is also the one that’s hardest to replicate in the land of Florida snowbirds.

That’s why some of history’s best closers have often posted horrible spring numbers. Before basically earning the de facto postseason MVP award in 2004 and saving the World Series for the Red Sox, Keith Foulke owned a spring ERA of over 11.00.

Jonathan Papelbon posted a 9.00 ERA in spring of 2011, and then went 4-1 with 31 saves and a 2.94 ERA during the season. San Diego’s Trevor Hoffman checked in at 8.22 in 2006 before saving a career-high 46 games and finishing second in the National League Cy Young Award voting.

(The exception, of course, is Yankees great Mariano Rivera, who owns an absurd ERA of 0.52 in 521⁄3 innings of Grapefruit League play since 2006, proving that he’s the greatest ever when the games don’t count, too).

We provide this as context for the struggles of new Red Sox closer Joel Hanrahan, who entered last night’s game against the Orioles with an ERA of 18.00 (three innings pitched, six earned runs) thus far this spring.